Thursday, November 22, 2012

Shiner Holiday Cheer

This will be my third year checking out Shiner Holiday Cheer, a Bavarian-Style Dark Wheat brewed by Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas. Here's the one from last year. Personally, it doesn't bother me to repeat some beers, despite this being brewed with the same recipe year after year. A lot of people like it and palates change. Maybe my opinion will change. Maybe a new regular reader never saw the old one. Who knows?

Same label: red, white and green. Same story on the back. Same mystery word: Krausening. "Give One To Someone You Love!" Now, before we get started, remember that this beer is brewed with peaches and pecans, so prepare yourself mentally.

Caramel sweet aroma to start. When you take a second and third whiff, you really start to smell the peach and orange jam-like aroma through the malty sweetness. Pretty nice.

Sweet peach flavors meet pecans exactly as advertised. The fruity sweetness is slightly syrupy, but some nutty flavors and hoppy bitterness balance that out well. Caramel and a little spice round out the flavor profile. Excellent carbonation, flavorful, extremely interesting and different. For sure check this out this winter.

Now, let me tell you a little holiday story to give you some cheer.
When I was 18 years old, I was a pretty good athlete, almost undefeated
in scholastic wrestling (I put "scholastic" so Ed Roberts wouldn't get
all excited about "Macho Man" or something). Toward the end of the
season, I was to wrestle this guy, last name Peachy. I ended up losing
after a terrible performance. Well, my football coach decided not to
lose the opportunity to get under my skin. As I boarded the bus for the
Regional tournament, he handed me a can of peaches and asked if I was
going to lose that weekend.

Peachy stuck as a nickname
for several months, through the end of the school year. When we played the summer football all-star classic
a few months later, the real Peachy actually stayed at the home of one
of my best friends during our practice week. Was pretty funny. That was 22 years ago. The end.